Following up on this morning’s post about Karbach Brewing Co.’s plans to start selling its beers in cans on March 5, I’ve posted some photos above (be sure to click through, as there is a tangentially related surprise at No. 6) and a copy of tomorrow’s story below. But first, a couple of elaborations that will be of interest to Beer, TX readers:

The first store accounts will include Spec’s, H-E-B, Kroger, Whole Foods, Central Market and some independents. The beers will be rolled out fairly methodically, beginning with the stores that currently sell the most craft beer.

Karbach cans also will go out to some bars and restaurants that either don’t have taps or, like Last Concert Cafe, have a limited number of taps.

The canning line is capable of filling 30 cans per minute, which comes out to about 75 cases per hour at full-speed. “We’ve gt it running pretty well now,” said brewmaster Eric Warner. So well, in fact, that there are now hardly any low-fills that the brewery workers have to take it upon themselves to keep from going to waste.

The brewery has 13 fermentation tanks, most of them with 60-barrel capacity, but it has nine more on order. Six of the news ones will be 90-barrel.

Joining Chris Fall as an assistant brewer is Gavin Secchi, 28, who arrived last week from the Goose Island brewery. Secchi, a Dallas native, formerly worked at Rahr & Sons and Franconia and reports he is glad to leave the Chicago winter weather behind.

Karbach will release its spring seasonal next week. The beer, Pontificator, will be a smoked doppelbock made with about 15 percent smoked malt, including German smoked birch and American smoked cherry wood. The beer will weigh in at close to 9 percent ABV, Warner said.

In March, Karbach fans can look forward to a bourbon-barrel-aged Hellfighter.

Now, here is that story running in tomorrow’s Business section:

Following a successful launch into Houston-area bars and restaurants last year, Karbach Brewing Co. is preparing for its next phase: selling beer in cans.

“This is a quantum leap, getting into packaging,” brewmaster Eric Warner said Tuesday.

Warner’s beers have been available in draft form only since Sept. 1. But on Tuesday, Karbach’s brand-new, $100,000 canning line was cranking out cases of Sympathy for the Lager in preparation for a March 5 release in groceries and liquor stores and some restaurants and bars that don’t serve beer on tap.

“It’s amazing, the growth we’re going through right now,” Warner said. “It’s good. If it was any more than this, it would be a little tricky” to keep up with demand.

David Greenwood, who heads the sales and marketing side of the business based in northwest Houston, said Karbach’s draft beers continue to expand in the marketplace and currently are sold in 140 establishments.

The addition of the lager, the Weisse Versa wheat beer and Hopadillo India pale ale in six-packs, plus Rodeo Clown imperial IPA in four-packs, will boost the number of accounts by about 70, Greenwood said.

In opting for cans over bottles, Karbach joins a hot trend in the craft-beer business. Warner cited his reasons: Cans protect beer more completely from sunlight and provide a better seal from oxygen; cans weigh less and thus reduce transportation costs; cans are recycled in much higher numbers than glass; cans fit an active, outdoor lifestyle.

Yet U.S. craft breweries packaged exclusively in bottles until 2002, when Oskar Blues of Colorado released its first canned product.

Jamie Gordon, technical sales representative for Canada-based Cask Brewing System, which manufactured and sold that first canning line and also the new Karbach equipment, reported sales of U.S. craft beers packaged in cans grew 700 percent last year.

Gordon called the demand from breweries for new canning lines over the last 24 months “quite spectacular.” He said the company, which has dealt exclusively in canning lines for the last six years, sold 50 last year and could sell as many as 70 in 2012.

To prepare for its own expected sales growth, Karbach has ordered nine new fermentation tanks that will boost its annual capacity to 10,000 to 15,000 barrels, Warner said. Karbach also continues to increase its outside sales staff, and last week it brought a second assistant brewer on board.